WISE – "Survive and Advance" is the phrase of the day as the UVA Wise women's basketball team enters postseason play at high noon on Tuesday against Catawba College in the opening game of the 2024 South Atlantic Conference Basketball Championship.

The tournament will be held in the Rock Hill Sports and Events Center from March 5-8.

This is the third appearance by the Cavs in the tournament in the past four seasons.

Tournament and ticket information can be found at the SAC's tournament website, while links to audio, video and live statistics can be found at UVAWiseCavs.com. Locally, the game can be heard on 92.5 WLSD-FM with Chris Davis assuming the play-by-play duties on the Cavalier Sports Network.

GETTING WISE
- The Cavs are the eight seed and enter the tournament with a 12-16 overall and 8-12 SAC record. They have been on somewhat of a hot streak of late as even their last few losses have all been by five points or less.
- Reigning WePlayed Sports SAC Player of the Week and Second Team All-SAC performer Caitlyn Ross leads the way for the team as she enters the contest averaging 16.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 6.3 assists a game.
- Katlin Burger leads the team in rebounds, averaging 6.3 boards a game. She also is averaging 12.4 points a game.
- Sarah Burton (12.5 ppg) and Sable Burnside (11.2 ppg) are also major scoring threats.
- As a team the Cavs are averaging 71.8 points per game, compared to the 71.6 from their opponents.
- The team also has higher percentages in shooting, three-point shooting, and rebounding than their opponents this season.
 - Like Iowa, UVA Wise has their own "Caitlyn Effect" as they are out-assisting their opponents by a 17.9 to 14.0 assist per game margin.

MEET THE OPPONENT
- Catawba enters the contest with a 22-4 overall record and a 17-3 record in SAC play. They earned the SAC regular season crown with their 90-60 victory over Emory & Henry this past Saturday and are the tournament's top seed.
- They are ranked 14^th in the latest WBCA Top-25 Coaches Poll and 17^th in the most recent D2CSC Media Poll.
- UVA Wise and Catawba have only met once this season, with the Cavs never trailing in the 81-71 win over then no. 8 Catawba in the Prior Center.
- Lyrik Thorne will be the key player to watch as she leads the team in points (20.4 ppg) and assists (4.7 apg). In the game in Wise she had 16 points and 6 assists.
- Another key player to watch is Janiya Downs, who leads Catawba in rebounds (6.7 rpg) and is second in scoring with 12.4 points a game.

THINGS TO WATCH
- Caitlyn Ross enters the game needing only six assists to set a new SAC record for career assists. The old record is 819, set by Wingate's Cynthia Thomas from 1991-95.
- Ross also moved to fourth place in the UVA Wise career scoring list as she passed Sharon Morris this past Saturday at Wingate. She currently has 1.734 career points and needs 13 to pass Wendi Collier to take over third place.

UP NEXT
- The winner of this 1 vs. 8 quarterfinal game will take on the winner of the 4-seed Wingate vs. 5-seed Lincoln Memorial contest, which will be played at noon on March 6.
- The semifinal round of the tournament will be played on March 7 at noon.
- The championship game will be played at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 8. The winner of that game will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.